Much was made about Rachel Lindsay being chosen to be The Bachelorette for this current season. Rachel is the first African-American woman to snag that coveted role—and as soon as it was announced, the buzzing about race started.
In fact, on the first night when Rachel was presented with 31 men to whittle down over time to “the one,” one of her African American suitors commented on how many “brothers” were part of the group. Of course this was to be expected given that Rachel is black and dates black men, along with men of other races. So the group was very diverse, and as it turn out, not just in terms of race.
The most recent episode featured Rachel and her remaining 6 men, who she needed to cull down to the 4 who would get “hometown dates.” One of those 6 guys is Eric from Baltimore. Eric is black, and Rachel obviously feels a special connection to him as he has lasted this long. The other 5 guys are white. However, Rachel has more in common with many of the white guys than with Eric, because, well, race isn’t everything.
This week, Eric talked candidly with Rachel about how he grew up—it’s the first time any of us had heard his story. Apparently he was raised on mean streets, with many of the men in his family doing serious time for selling drugs, burglary, and other criminal offenses. Eric had to fend for himself, has never seen both his parents at the same time, in the same room. and has never brought a woman home, never. Rachel listened carefully and what scared her was that at age 29, he has never brought a woman home. This is something all the other bachelors have shared doing with their families, but not Eric.
It doesn’t matter that Eric and Rachel are both black—they are farther apart then she is with her other suitors due to class and social status.
Growing up in an upper middle class home with two well-educated, professional parents—Rachel comes from a good, solid environment. She was loved and nurtured, and had advantages. She went to private school and received a good education that led her to law school and a successful law career. Eric probably had to fight his way to school, went to a sub-par school, and had few if any role models teaching him what it meant to be a well-adjusted, successful, law-abiding adult black male. Yet Eric graduated from college with honors, one of the lucky (smart, determined) kids from the hood to survive and thrive past young adulthood.
One has to wonder how much if any experience Rachel has with guys from backgrounds like Eric, yet she likes him, really likes him. This season’s Bachelorette highlights the importance of not placing too much emphasis on race. After all, the difference is only skin deep.
